Silicon Valley’s corporate chiefs made bigger pay gains last year than CEOs at the nation’s biggest companies, according to data compiled by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm in Redwood City.

That doesn’t mean local executives are paid more, but their median compensation increased by a greater percentage than the median CEO pay in other industries, as the tech economy rebounded more quickly than other business sectors from the downturn.

“The trend is consistent, but the comeback is greater” for the tech industry, said Richard V. Smith, an executive pay expert at Sibson Consulting, who noted that CEO pay fell in most sectors during the recession and then snapped back in 2010.

Median pay for chief executives at the 145 largest companies in Silicon Valley rose 37 percent, according to figures reported in their corporate proxy statements. By comparison, Equilar reported that median pay rose 28 percent for CEOs in the Standard & Poor’s 500, an index of the biggest companies in a cross-section of American business sectors.

But the median compensation package for Silicon Valley chiefs was just under $2.8 million — less than the median of roughly $9 million for CEOs in the S&P 500. The Silicon Valley list includes a number of companies that are much smaller than those on the S&P 500, so it’s not surprising their median pay is lower.

A handful of big corporations can be found on both lists, however, and some local CEOs are definitely in the big leagues for pay.

Oracle’s (ORCL) Larry Ellison ranked as the second-highest-paid CEO in the nation last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said Ellison’s total compensation, valued at $70 million in 2010, was second only to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, whose total award was valued at $84.3 million.

Median pay also varies between different business sectors within the S&P 500, according to Equilar.

CEOs in health care saw the smallest increase last year — less than 6 percent — although their median pay was $9.7 million. Their counterparts in the “basic materials and energy” sector collect the highest pay of all, with a median of $9.9 million, up nearly 28 percent from 2009.

For chief executives in the financial services sector, the median rose 31 percent, to $8 million. CEOs at big technology companies in the S&P 500 — the likes of Apple (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Microsoft and IBM — had the greatest increase, as their median pay rose 60 percent, to $9.2 million.

A key factor that drove up executive pay in Silicon Valley was also a trend nationwide. Equilar reported that cash bonuses rose faster than any other component of executive pay, such as salaries or stock grants, at corporations of all sizes around the country.

“A lot of these people are seeing pretty big bonuses,” said Equilar researcher Aaron Boyd. As many companies climbed out of the recession, he said, their executives’ performance goals, particularly those related to company earnings, “proved much easier to hit.”

Higher pay for CEOs drew widespread approval from shareholders at most U.S. companies, at a time when corporate earnings and share prices also were on the rise.

For the first time this year, new regulations required most public companies to let investors vote on advisory measures known as “say on pay.” Shareholders voted strongly in favor of executive pay packages at nearly 1,900 companies around the nation, while rejecting similar measures at 31 companies, according to Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm.

The only local company that failed to win majority approval for its executive pay plan was Hewlett-Packard. The plan won support from 48 percent of votes cast at HP’s shareholder meeting in March, with 50 percent opposed.

That vote came after two proxy advisory firms, ISS and Glass, Lewis, raised public concerns about the severance package awarded to former CEO Mark Hurd and issues related to incoming CEO Léo Apotheker. HP disputed the firms’ complaints, but said it would take investors’ views into consideration.

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey.

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